I spent five years at Forbes writing about business and leadership, attracting nearly one million unique visitors to Forbes.com each month. While here, I assistant edited the annual World’s 100 Most Powerful Women package and helped launch and grow ForbesWoman.com. I've appeared on CBS, CNBC, MSNBC and E Entertainment and speak often at conferences and events on women's leadership topics. I graduated summa cum laude from New York University with degrees in journalism and sociology and was honored with a best in business award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) in 2012. My work has appeared in Businessweek, Ladies’ Home Journal, The Aesthete and Acura Style. I live in New York City with my husband and can be found on Twitter @Jenna_Goudreau, Facebook, and Google+.

2/08/2011 @ 4:38PM44,787 views

Do You Suffer From Workplace Anxiety?

Amy Lemley, 46, has spent most of her life feeling like a fraud. She remembers debilitating performance pressure even as a young child. When she believed she wasn’t strong in a subject, such as science or math, she’d avoid it, once refusing to do homework for months.

Later, as a marketing copywriter, Lemley felt her anxieties surfacing again. She began worrying obsessively about how she came off to coworkers and clients. Was she being taken seriously? Did that person think she knew what she was talking about? A few times she forgot to bill her clients, and when she realized the mistake, was too embarrassed to send the bill late.

She didn’t like being put on the spot either. She screened her calls and preferred email to knocking on a colleague’s door. Mostly, she says, she was so consumed with perfectionism that she constantly felt she’d be “found out” for her weaknesses.

Lemley says her workplace anxieties crippled her, costing thousands in lost earnings and missed opportunities, professional relationships and personal wellbeing. She recently collaborated on a book, Work Makes Me Nervous, with Jonathan Berent, a psychotherapist and business performance consultant.

Berent has worked with over 10,000 professionals and says anxiety, ranging from mild to intense, on the job “is an epidemic.” Symptoms range from obsessive worry and racing thoughts to fears of appearing nervous and avoidant behavior. Those who suffer may go to incredible lengths. Berent notes that a few of his clients have been so wracked with embarrassment about their tendencies to blush in the office that they had medical procedures to cut out those nerves.

“There is a spectrum,” notes Berent. “It’s normal to have fears or feel awkward at times. It becomes a problem when the anxiety controls you.” For those professionals consumed by worry, he says productivity plunges, careers can derail and mental health is at risk.

Culled from Berent’s interviews and polls of ForbesWoman followers on Facebook and Twitter, a list emerged of the top 20 most common workplace anxiety triggers likely to make pulses race and palms sweat in offices everywhere. Professionals reported worrying over commonplace requirements like speaking in meetings, attending company social events, keeping up with technology, being dressed inappropriately and even using the public restroom with others around.

Berent says all of the triggers are rooted in a five basic issues:

• fear of speaking in public • fear of interacting with authority figures • fear of taking on new challenges • fear of being noticeably nervous • perfectionism

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 18.1% of American adults suffer from a clinical anxiety disorder, with social anxieties making up the majority. Interestingly, women are 60% more likely than men to have an anxiety disorder in their lifetimes, with experts citing both cultural and biological reasons.

Berent says with these kinds of numbers, the amount of people suffering from milder forms of anxiety must be astronomical.

In his experience, the fear of speaking in public is the most common workplace angst. Ironically, professionals must face this fear constantly, called upon to make presentations and speeches, run meetings, speak on conference calls and into webcams, share their opinions and offer solutions. Berent even had one client, a female manager who had survived ovarian cancer, say she would rather go back to chemotherapy than speak in front of a group.

In fact, Lemley, now a senior editor at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, was asked recently to make a small presentation in front of six colleagues. She began feeling that familiar tension, a firing of nerves that felt like “being electrocuted.” Her thoughts started churning: Would she come off as a know-it-all? Would she rattle on?

Then, she remembered the calming techniques that Berent had imparted. She recognized the adrenaline as normal. She considered the logical facts that she was asked to speak because she was an expert on the subject and had insight to offer. She tapped into a more nurturing inner monologue rather than a toxic, critical one.

Lemley even tried something new. She went around to each colleague’s office and said, “Isn’t it funny? I’m feeling a little bit nervous about the presentation.” They assured her that they were excited to hear what she had to say. By the time she entered the room, she was confident and calm. She finally felt it would be okay if she messed up.

Berent agrees that the best way to beat workplace anxiety is to face your fears. “You cannot resolve anxiety by playing defense,” he warns. He tells his clients to take care of their physical health by eating well, getting good sleep, exercising regularly and avoiding substances like alcohol, as the first step towards mental health.

Then, he advises that people use the adrenaline to their advantage rather than avoid the situations that make them uncomfortable. Start by becoming aware of the body’s fight-or-flight responses by noticing if your pulse has quickened or if the temperature of your hands has risen. Remind yourself that the physical reaction is normal, and take deep breaths, counting up and down from four.

Try to embrace the challenges as they come. If you dread asking a question in a meeting, just do it to know how it feels. Be kind to yourself by imagining a nurturing parent patting you on the back and offering constructive feedback. Think: I’m proud of you for trying. You may have spoken too quickly this time, but next time you will take a more measured tone.

Hopefully, confidence will grow with each success, helping the anxieties quiet or subside completely.

Post Your Comment

Post Your Reply

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out.

Comments

I am wondering if we are not talking about Social Anxiety Disorder in this article.

Social Anxiety Disorder can cause intense and unreasonable fear of social or performance situations. Sufferers often feel that they will be judged by others or will do something to embarrass or humiliate themselves. The effects can be devastating.

As the article mentions, “true” social anxiety disorder usually begins in childhood or early adolescence, and only rarely does it begin in adulthood. Statistics show that it occurs in women twice as often as in men and that it may be the most prevalent psychological disorder.

The good news is that with the correct treatment plan, Social Anxiety Disorder can be successfully managed. Although there is no laboratory test to diagnose Social Anxiety Disorder, it is usually diagnosed by a physician or psychologist who will ask the patient about the anxiety symptoms they experience and in what context they occur.

Most importantly, a thorough medical assessment should be done to ensure that there are no co-existing conditions or other disorders that can better explain the symptoms.

Once a diagnosis is made, there are many natural treatments available as well as the standard pharmaceutical treatments which should be used only as a last resort.

My advice is to visit with your doctor and talk openly with them. Why suffer when you don’t have to.

These are where voices go. By the way , i really wants to apologly for sufferers like us. Please forgive us n destimagtised us. Blessed ones, bliss in loving kindness. Thanks for sharing. Hope to say ,Metta, Metta. _()_